According to Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre, Sunday’s heist revealed the museum’s shortcomings, including a lack of security cameras outside the site.
On Wednesday, October 22, the director of the Louvre made his first public remarks after the gem theft. According to her, the museum “terribly failed” to identify the robbers in time to prevent the heist. She then admitted that she turned down an opportunity to quit.
For the first time since one of the most high-profile museum thefts of the century startled the world with its scope and boldness, the most visited museum in the world reopened earlier in the day to lengthy lineups under its iconic glass pyramid.
The director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, said before the French Senate that Sunday’s robbery had shown the museum’s shortcomings, including a lack of security cameras outside the site.
She told a Senate committee that she resigned, but the cultural minister rejected it, under intense pressure over a robbery that damaged France’s reputation throughout the world.
“I assume my share of responsibility for the catastrophic failure we are experiencing at the Louvre today,” she said.
The robbers stole eight pieces of France’s Crown Jewels as they moved in and out, causing a cultural scare that some likened to the 2019 Notre Dame Cathedral fire.
Steps away from the “Mona Lisa,” the heist is worth over $100 million and has raised fresh questions about beleaguered President Emmanuel Macron, Culture Minister Rachida Dati, des Cars, and others. Only a few months have passed since workers went on strike, citing ongoing understaffing, a lack of resources for security, and too few eyes on too many rooms.
According to des Cars, “we did not notice the coming of the criminals fast enough.”
Although there is a plan to offer complete coverage of all the Louvre’s façade, she said that although the museum’s alarms had operated as intended, there is presently no comprehensive video monitoring of the area outside the institution.
In addition, she proposed barriers to keep cars from parking immediately next to the museum’s structures and promised to advocate for the establishment of a police station inside the 2,300-person institution, which hosts 30,000 people daily.
Reactions are mixed since the gems are still gone and the robbers are still at large after three days.
“It is incomprehensible for a location like the Louvre,” said 36-year-old Chicago art educator Amanda Lee. I have heard that it takes less than four minutes. With no cops in sight, how is that feasible here?
Despite the Apollo Gallery being closed, Claire Martin, a 41-year-old French lawyer from Versailles who was there with her two kids on a school break, said that “we saw the masterpieces.”
It is a history lesson, we explained to the children. “The art is why we came,” she remarked. “The cops can handle the criminals.”
Authorities claim that the robbers were inside the Louvre for less than four minutes on Sunday morning, smashing two vitrines, forcing a window open, and wheeling a freight elevator to the façade overlooking the Seine.
Then came the motorcycle escape through the heart of Paris. The burglars had fled when alarms had sounded, attracting agents to the gallery.
The Louvre refused to answer queries from The Associated Press about any updated procedures when it reopened. There were no uniformed police officers stationed in the hallways, it said. Due to the increased demand during the school holidays, the day was completely booked and entry was restricted.
“I did not see any additional security; there were the usual guards and no cops there. According to 29-year-old Madrid software programmer Tomás Álvarez, “it seemed like a typical day.”
A sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a set associated with 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense were among the eight items taken by the robbers.
In addition, they stole a reliquary brooch and an emerald necklace and earrings that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, Empress Marie-Louise. The plunder also included Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her enormous corsage-bow brooch, an imperial outfit of exceptional workmanship.
The emerald-set imperial crown of Eugénie, which had over 1,300 diamonds, was subsequently discovered outside the museum, damaged but salvageable.
Approximately 88 million euros ($102 million) was the haul’s “amazing” worth, according to prosecutor Laure Beccuau, but it still does not fully reflect the paintings’ historical significance. If the thieves tear out stones or melt the metals, she cautioned, they are unlikely to gain anything like that amount, which curators worry would turn millennia of meaning into faceless jewels for the illicit market.
According to Beccuau, professional analyzes are under progress; in addition to forensics specialists, some 100 detectives are mapping the crew and potential accomplices, and four individuals have been recognized as being present at the site.
All of this follows Macron’s announcement in January of new plans for the Louvre, which included an enlarged camera grid and a new command center that said the Culture Ministry was implementing.
Hard issues are also brought forward, such as whether personnel numbers are related to Sunday’s hack and how consistently the overhaul’s improvements are being implemented.
The “Mona Lisa” is protected by bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled cabinet, but the breach revealed weaknesses elsewhere in a labyrinth of 33,000 objects. The difference at the monument is a source of public shame for many French people.
The problem of swarming crowds and overworked employees is a sensitive one.
Due to chronic understaffing and congestion, a staff strike in June postponed the opening. Unions contend that mass tourism results in a lack of security at pressure spots where tourist flows, freight access, and construction zones converge.
The other main attractions of the Louvre, such as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, reopened on Wednesday. However, the vacant and guarded vitrines at the Apollo Gallery sent a different message: one of a breach symbolized not just by minutes and dollars but also by the fragility of a country’s legacy.